WESTON, Mo. — A week after winning the first-ever girls KCI Conference championship, West Platte added another historic win.
Hosting the Class 1 District 8 meet on Saturday, May 5, the Bluejays won the girls championship for the first time in school history with 125 points, easily beating Worth County.
“Being a part of the West Platte’s first district championship on the girls side is something I will always remember as a coach,” West Platte coach Bailee Giger said. “I was very proud of how the kids competed. We continue to cut time on our relays and individual events alike. I’m excited to see what this team can do in the next couple weeks.”
The boys finished with 119 points and came in five points behind Worth County.
West Platte will send 14 events on the girls side and 11 on the boys side to the Class 1 Sectional meet starting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Lathrop High School.
The girls had three district champions — two of which were relays.
The 4x800-meter relay team of Rachel Heili, Sophia Rush, Lindsay Goodwin and Sikoya Richard ran 10:10.37 and won by 12 seconds. The 4x100 relay team of MiKenna Peters, Gracie Raney, Gretchen Raney and Ciara Davis won in 52.30.
Rush won an individual title, winning the 3,200 in 12:06.76. In the same race, Lexi Elmore placed fourth to advance to sectionals. Rush added a runner-up finish in the 1,600.
Peters was second in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, while Emily Norman was fourth in the 300.
Lea Moose was second in the javelin, while the 4x200 team of Faith Stevens, Tori Norman, Gretchen Raney and Ciara Davies were the runners-up.
Stevens took third in the triple jump, while Gretchen Raney was third in the 100 dash and fourth in the 200 dash.
Moose, Heili, Davies and Goodwin was fourth in the 4x400.
Max Davies won a pair of individual titles for the Bluejays, winning the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. In both races, teammate Andrew Cicha was fourth.
Davies finished in 10:40.25 in the 3,200 and won without much of a challenge — winning by 16 seconds — but had only a four-second win in the 1,600 (4:43.80).
“I was expecting to be at least 10 seconds because that is what seed sheets said, but that guy from East Atchison (Jake McEnaney) but he was seeded first. I was kind of nervous at the beginning of the mile. I thought it would be a really easy race. I had more worries than I thought I did.”
Davies ran in two relays as well for West Platte. He helped the team win the 4x800 in 8:44.68, winning by more than 12 seconds. He was joined by Cicha, Justin Howard and Zach Howerton.
In his final race of the day, Davies helped the Bluejays take second in the 4x400 behind Stanberry. Dylan Lock, Sam Davis and Drake Stelljes was also on that team.
“Max Davies put in a man-sized effort and ran very well considering three of his races landed in the heat of the day,” West Platte coach Steve Feiden said. “He never ceases to impress me with his poise and effort in every race and he has been very steady in his performances this season. But the part Coach Giger and I are most excited about — Max is just a Jr, so we get him back again next season.”
The 4x100 team of Davis, Stelljes, Cole Vandel and Gavin Raney took second, while the 4x200 team of Davis, Stelljes, Raney and Matik Heskin was third.
Vandel added thirds in the triple jump and 300 hurdles, while Lock was third in the 400.
Cole Whelan was second in the shot put and fourth in the javelin.
There were some close calls for both Bluejays squads with a handful of fifth-place finishes — the first non-sectional qualifying spot.
Gracie Raney was fifth in the 100 and 400; Heili in the 800; Amanda Lowell in the shot put; Emily Norman in the 100 hurdles and Howard in the 800.
“Qualifying and getting through to next week is always the priority at this point in the season,” Feiden said. “Survive and advance” was the mantra of the day for both our teams, and our kids did a great job of that overall. We have a full bus going to Lathrop, and the goal is to have that many seats filled up and heading to Jefferson City to compete for a state championship in two weeks.”
